Orlando man to climb Mount Rainier, raise money for MS

June 14, 2008|By Rich McKay, Sentinel Staff Writer

Chuck Norman has two reasons for risking life and limb to conquer Mount Rainier.

He's a self-styled adrenaline junkie, who sees a challenge in Rainier, one of America's most dangerous peaks; but he's also got a soft heart and is using the climb to raise money for a friend with multiple sclerosis.

Norman caught the mountaineering bug years ago when he met his wife's family in Colorado. He climbs mountains regularly.

The Orlando man has been preparing for two years to make his ascent of the glaciated volcano in Washington's Cascade Range.

"This is the highest mountain I've ever attempted," he said.

The mountain's dangers were vividly illustrated last week when three climbers were caught in a freak June blizzard that killed one of them. A helicopter rescued the other two hikers from Camp Muir, a staging area for climbers about 10,000 feet up the 14,410-foot volcano.

Camp Muir is one of the spots Norman's team will be using.

The rescued pair and the husband of one of them had been out for a day hike to Camp Muir when they were caught in the storm that dumped 2 feet of snow.

All three were experienced climbers, and two had reached the top of Mount Rainier before, said Kevin Bacher, a spokesman for Mount Rainier National Park.

If all goes as planned, Norman, a firefighter, trained EMT and emergency-room nurse, will head to base camp July 17 to start getting acclimated to the altitude.

Norman said he had heard the news of the climbers, but he still plans to go.

"Sometimes people don't take Rainier as seriously as they should. It's a dangerous place," he said.

"There are no shortcuts to the top."

By July 24, he hopes to reach the summit of the mountain that has claimed more than 300 lives in the past century. Many of the dead vanished without even a footprint left in the snow to follow.

But despite the danger, he wants to go for all the typical reasons -- for the challenge and breathtaking beauty and to live life to the fullest.

"If it were easy, everybody would do it," the 35-year-old said with a shrug.

However, he and his wife, Elena Norman, have added another component: The Normans want to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

"Elena has a friend from college who has been diagnosed with MS," Chuck Norman said. "There's no cure, and it can be debilitating. We thought, let's see if we can do something."

After learning of their friend's illness, Chuck Norman noticed that some of the symptoms of MS are similar to altitude sickness that can afflict even seasoned mountaineers: debilitating fatigue, loss of coordination, dizziness and numbing pain.

"The difference is that for mountain climbers, their symptoms go away when they come down from the mountain," Chuck Norman said. "If you have MS, there's no cure."

The Normans don't handle any of the donated money themselves. Their Web site, TheSnowShoeClub.com, which has been chronicling Chuck Norman's training, has a link to the Multiple Sclerosis Society's Web site.

He's paying for all his own expenses, gear and permits and doesn't get a dime from the fundraiser.

In the meantime, he has kicked his training into high gear, climbing the 28 flights of stairs at the Bank of America building, lugging a backpack with 50 pounds of gear.

"He'll reach us by satellite phone," she said. "Cell phones don't work on the mountain."

Chuck Norman expects to be on the mountain by July 19. He'll be climbing with seven seasoned mountaineers, and they all will be tethered to one another, just in case someone steps into a hidden crevasse.

He promises his wife and son, Victor, 6, to respect the mountain's dangers.